Frank Body TVC

Sabrina Davidson
Aug 24, 2017 · 5 min read

Major Project

The major project my team chose to do a spec ad for Frank Body’s new Shimmer Scrub. Alex first discussed the idea of doing this commercial with the group after being inspired by the holographic packaging. We were all really excited to give this new style a go and were ready to push ourselves and see what we could do.

Coming into this trimester I was excited to give client work a go; prior to this I had only done client work in my photography and I was willing to push myself to try it in film. The big challenge for my team initially was finding the balance between our creative freedom and the companies look, which is not something that we have had to consider in the past. As we were doing it as a spec ad we could have done something completely different but we wanted to stay true to the brand and their marketing aesthetic. So instead of us using anyone we chose to use Sophie Marsh, who has worked with Frank Body prior to working with us, and we chose to follow a concept similar to their previous ad’s. These guidelines we set for ourselves were really useful in the long run, for when we were trying to decide between shots or picking what type of colour grade to go with we always had a reference point back to the brand. Having a particular set of guidelines is something I haven’t really experienced before. When making a short film or doing a photoshoot you usually have a lot of freedom in your decisions, which in some cases can improve your work and in others it can leave you blank. As a very indecisive person I’ve found myself to thrive in these types of situations, not just because it is high concept and creative but because it gave me a rubric to follow while also having freedom for creative choices, as well as my team as a sounding board. It helped me focus my vision for production design and editing while also letting me experiment with different elements until our ad matched the brand.

Working on this TVC I’ve learnt a lot; the main thing being finding the balance between creative freedom and marketing. The concept doesn't have to be the strongest in the world, especially for products like a body scrub or chocolates, as we came to realise, we aren’t selling the story we are selling the experience. However knowing the target audience we’re selling the experience to is just as, if not more important.

We worked well within the high concept montage bits but we spent the most time on the concept bits and struggled through them. Even though my team work really well together I sometimes feel that I was left with all the things they couldn’t do, and this became a main point of stress for me. However, I remained as positive as I could through the process and worked really hard to get my jobs done well, as did my team. During production was a really stressful time, but in all other aspects my team has been really great to be around. We have all maintained honest, open working relationships with one another and learnt how each other works. We really excelled in our communication with one another both online and face to face.

Doing this project as a spec commercial we didn’t have any type of clear brief to work off, but with the possibility of them using it as it features one of their models we tried and, I believe, succeeded to match their aesthetic. As the brand has previously released several similar ads with similar conceptual moments I fell confident that our work fits within their marketing. We also aimed for the same target audience of young women 15 to 25. With the combination of these marketing and style elements integrated into our commercial I feel that we were able to effectively represent the brand and the product to its target audience.

I think if the team had given me a little more time to experiment when we were filming the high concept scenes I would definitely have produced a better visual product. Also I feel studying film in such a professional way came to my teams down fall a bit when they wouldn’t trust my creative decisions and would reject some of my suggestions due to time constraints. All this came down to our time management as we spent so much time on the beginning concept that we left very little time to film the most important scenes. This meant that by the time we got around to filming them everyone was tiered and it was late.

There were a lot of times through this trimester I knew that I had taken up too many roles, I think my indecisiveness and willingness to give it all a go. Everyone in my team has a particular role within film making that they cling to and have been refining, where as I enjoy so many different things within film making I struggle to pick my one favourite. This left me getting the roles that the others preferred not to have, which I did have a blast doing, but it meant that I was working in all aspects of the film making process:

preproduction doing production design, production doing production design, gaffer and continuity and post production doing editing.

Now that our final project has been completed and our feedback has been given, I’m really proud of my group and what we achieved for our first time; but in retrospect I wish that I hadn’t agreed to so many roles within the making of this as I feel that I could have excelled more with my focus devoted to one particular role.

I would love to work with my team in this space again if I get the chance and a few less rolls to fill, as it was a tonne of fun and a great experience

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Sabrina Davidson

Written by

Film Student at SAE Creative Media Institute

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